RLPC-Cortefiel's loan price falls again - traders

LONDON, July 31 (Reuters) - The average price of Spanish retailer Cortefiel's leveraged loan slid further in the European secondary market this week after the company released disappointing monthly trading figures, traders said on Thursday.

Cortefiel, which is owned by Permira [PERM.UL], CVC [CVC.UL] and PAI, posted June sales 20 percent behind forecasts while earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were 35 percent behind budget, according to traders.

The news saw average bids slide further into distressed territory to around 40 percent of face value, prompting jitters among investors. One trader reported seeing an opportunistic bid of 39 percent of face value.

"We are beginning to hit levels which are not pretty. You can now bid around 40-41, maximum 42 for the name", another trader said.

Cortefiel's TLA and TLB tranche lost 2.9 and 1.95 percent to 45.66 and 44.227 percent of face value in the week to Thursday on top of steep recent declines after weak May numbers, according to data from Reuters Loan Pricing Corp.

Cortefiel's price compares with average bids on Europe's top 40 leveraged names of 87.5 percent of face value, the data shows.

Investors have shunned the Spanish retail sector on fears that consumer spending will suffer as the country's economy continues to deteriorate.

The loan's TLA and TLB tranches have fallen heavily this year, losing 37.66 percent and 40.9 percent of their value respectively since January, RLPC data shows.

(Reporting by Zaida Espana; Editing by Erica Billingham)